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Original Message:
Re: flexibility of fairfield points (by Mary D.):
johnm333 wrote:When I bought fairfield I was told I could go where I want when I want and for as long as I want. What went wrong that I have to book vacations 12 or more months in advance. I would not have bought if I had known this.
You may book your FF home resort 13 months in advance. Standard reservations can't be made more than 10 months ahead. RCI Exchanges can be booked up to 2 years ahead if you wish.
You can exchange into any resort in the Fairfield system or bank your time with RCI or II, depending on which is associated with the Fairfield at which you first purchased. An exchange company, however, has additional fees and can't give you what nobody has deposited. (Exception: Some resort chains give RCI some of their excess inventory to fill the rooms and bring prospective buyers to their doors.)
The "as long as you want" depends on how many points you bought. Was that for "as long as you wanted"? You can get more time per point if you do not travel only in Red season and try to avoid weekends! If you want to go to a location with lots of Fairfield space like Branson, you may even chance making your request in the reduced points window. Are you VIP? See the chart in the Directory. Orlando is usually available with the exception of Christmas vacation time when families bring the kids.
There are relatively few 3BR and 4BR units, so getting these can be a problem.
There are some unique situations. You will not get Daytona 500 Race Week even if you own points at Ocean Walk unless you call to reserve EARLY on the first morning of the Advanced Reservation window--13 months ahead. You WILL find this week offered on RedWeek by FF owners trying to make enough profit to cover most of their expenses for that week and all others they own! Even so, they are not out of line with the prices Daytona hotels will be charging.
Hope this helps.
MD